I Am What You Made Me
by TerraZeal
Summary: Short story about the Jade Witch from Mists of Pandaria. Why she turns people to jade and what happened to her husband. Mention of suicide.


_**AN: **Short story about the Jade Witch. I actually pitied her and thought she was just a lonely, eccentric old lady, rather than the Magatha Grimtotem of the Jade Forest._

**I Am What You Made Me**

She and her husband were happy. They'd always been a happy, loving couple. She didn't like that he constantly risked his life against the dangers in the world with the Shado-Pan. He wasn't technically a member, not really, but his excellent Jade Strike that turned people struck into jade made him a valuable monk. A valuable weapon.

During one such mission, he'd been put up against a particularly fierce Sha-possessed Pandaren. It was then that her life changed forever. The Sha-monk had reflected his own Jade Strike back at him, turning him in to the very jade he worked and fought with.

Lady Greenpaw had cried the day Taran Zhu brought her husband's lifeless jade-stricken form to her, claiming it was the least he could do for the widow of one of the bravest, most self-sacrificing monks he'd known. With the help of a few Shado-Pan monks, she'd had his lovely, sparkling jade form placed on a pedestal in the peaceful backyard they'd enjoyed so much.

So long, she would sit there, staring at his statue, him, wanting the spell to finally break and her beloved Master Greenpaw to return to life. She'd received many visits and condolences from people who knew him in life. It still wasn't enough. She didn't want pity, she just wanted her husband back.

She knew there was no hope. She studied his texts. His techniques of the Jade Strike, turning the living into jade, but nothing she tried, no spell, no amount of tears, would free her husband from the shimmering green prison. People eventually stopped visiting once the novelty of her husband's sacrifice wore off.

After some time, she became a master of her own version of the Jade Strike. She had practiced the techniques on the hostile tigers near their home, turning them into animated jade statues.

Her lovely jade kittens kept her company for a long time. Children came by, young pandaren just starting their lives, full of light and hope and optimism. Optimism long lost on Lady Greenpaw. The children only served to remind her of what she would never have. No one wanted an old widower.

Then the whispers started. The children that visited her garden to admire the jade statues her late husband had carved started saying it was her fault. Started saying that SHE had turned her husband into a statue. That it was too lifelike, too real, to be a statue. She had explained. Told them what happened. Being children, they didn't understand.

They eventually became too afraid to approach her directly. They would sneak in at night, with little hammers and saws, and hack away at the jade form of her beloved husband. It brought tears to her eyes and anger swelled in her heart. They really didn't know. They really believed him to have been encased in jade on purpose. They believed hacking him to bits could free him. They didn't know that the Jade Magic turned a person to jade rather than trapping them in jade.

Her own jade magic, when used on the tigers that had been threatening her home, was reversible. She could remove the magic from the tigers, but when she tried the reversal magic on her husband, none of it worked. It only worked with her own magic. Master Greenpaw's magic had been too strong. Her magic couldn't penetrate it. Neither could the saws or chisels the children used to vandalize him.

One day, she'd been wakened by a striking sound. She had looked out her window and saw a small pandaren child throwing rocks at her husband. Infuriated, she had screamed at him. Yelled at him to get away and never come back. The child had ran, fast as his little feet could carry him. Later that same day, she made a sign out of a few pieces of dead wood and carved with "Stay out – NO VISITORS!" hoping it would keep people from attempting to vandalize her home even more.

It didn't work. Even when she went into town to talk to the childrens' parents, they had claimed their children were under control and would never do something so evil as try and harm Master Greenpaw's remains. No one believed her. She heard their whispers.

_Just a crazy old lady. Ignore her. She's harmless. She's still in shock over the sacrifice of her husband._

Or the even worse whispers. Usually only said by children, because the adults only thought she was a crazy old lady.

_She's a witch. _

_She turns people to jade! _

_She turns little children to jade for her garden of statues! _

_Don't believe me? Look at her husband! She turned him to jade! He looks too lifelike to be a mere statue! _

_And those cats! They're real tigers she cursed!_

Years passed. Lady Greenpaw still endured the whispers of the children and adults. One day, she was ready to just end it. To turn her own jade magic on herself so as to truly join her husband, trapped, living forever preserved as beautiful jade. As she was readying the spell, one of the gossipy, whispering children had interrupted her.

"You're doing it right now! I'm going to tell them, you're gonna turn us to jade!"

The child hadn't ran for some reason. He appeared too shocked by the spell she'd been preparing. She simply gazed back at him.

"Yes. You're right. I am going to turn someone into jade; but not you. Get out. Now. Leave me be." Widow Greenpaw went back to the casting.

The stupid, brave child ran into the shimmery green beam for the spell.

"I won't let you, witch! I'll stop you!" He stared her down defiantly, then gasped.

Widow Greenpaw's mouth opened slightly, in shock. The spell meant for her had indeed struck the child. Shiny, green stone slowly crept up his body.

"W-witch! Stop this right now! They'll catch you. The Shado-Pan will kill you, witch!"

The pandaren widow could only gape in shock.

"The spell wasn't meant for you. I can fix it."

"N-no! You won't. You'll turn all of the Jade Forest, all of Dawn's Blossom, into jade statues! Why are you doing this?" The jade had spread to most of his body. It had covered his mouth. He could still see, but could no longer scream, yell.

The Jade Witch blinked. Life finally coming into focus after so many years. They had always wanted children. Who's to say they can't have them? She smiled. A different smile, much different, then the weak, watery smile she'd used when people would compliment her husband's bravery or her work on statues.

"Why? My husband and I have always wanted children. You will live forever. That is what most people want, isn't it? You will live forever, preserved as jade. My husband will have a son at last."

Another wicked smile crossed her face.

"You say I am a witch. All of you said that I am a witch for many years. I am. I wasn't always. I am what you made me, dear child. I am what everyone made me. The Jade Witch. Enjoy your new home. Your father will be so proud of you!"


End file.
